Log of the Cocokai 1
Earlier this year I sailed up from Singapore to Langkawi in Malaysia. This is a long overdue "log" of that trip.
30/May/2012 - Flew from Bangkok to Changi Airport in Singapore in the morning. Immigration procedures passed with the usual Singaporean efficiency and minimum of hassle. From there it was only a short taxi trip to the nearby ferry terminal to check out again for the trip across the Singapore Strait to Nongsa Point in Indonesia.
Again all the immigration redtape was handled quickly and painlessly, even my departure card was pre-printed by computer. That is the first time something like that has happened. Singapore is really an amazing 21st century city.
I was expecting it to be different in Indonesia but the “Nongsa Point Resort and Marina”, my destination, had its own ferry terminal and immigration office. The Resort-Hotel dominated the area. A short (free) bus trip took me past a manicured golf course to a forest covered hillside with scattered luxurious villas. Amazing what a little (or a lot) of money and the right political connections can achieve.
I had to keep reminding myself that this is a developing country. A western country like Australia could never build anything like this place. Between all the government regulation, environmental concerns and opposition from community groups it would just never happen.
Then my first meeting with the skipper, of the “Cocokai,” a 54 foot schooner. Greg could have been Viking, with his long blond unkempt curly hair and leather wrinkled skin from years of salt and sand. He and his partner were half way through their circumnavigation. However, they had taken a break and flown back to the USA. Greg had now returned and was taking the boat up to Langkawi where his partner and her daughter were to rejoin him.
The other crew members arrived not long after me on the following ferry and after a bit of exploring around the marina it was an early night to be ready for an early departure the next morning.
30/May/2012 - Flew from Bangkok to Changi Airport in Singapore in the morning. Immigration procedures passed with the usual Singaporean efficiency and minimum of hassle. From there it was only a short taxi trip to the nearby ferry terminal to check out again for the trip across the Singapore Strait to Nongsa Point in Indonesia.
Again all the immigration redtape was handled quickly and painlessly, even my departure card was pre-printed by computer. That is the first time something like that has happened. Singapore is really an amazing 21st century city.
I was expecting it to be different in Indonesia but the “Nongsa Point Resort and Marina”, my destination, had its own ferry terminal and immigration office. The Resort-Hotel dominated the area. A short (free) bus trip took me past a manicured golf course to a forest covered hillside with scattered luxurious villas. Amazing what a little (or a lot) of money and the right political connections can achieve.
I had to keep reminding myself that this is a developing country. A western country like Australia could never build anything like this place. Between all the government regulation, environmental concerns and opposition from community groups it would just never happen.
Then my first meeting with the skipper, of the “Cocokai,” a 54 foot schooner. Greg could have been Viking, with his long blond unkempt curly hair and leather wrinkled skin from years of salt and sand. He and his partner were half way through their circumnavigation. However, they had taken a break and flown back to the USA. Greg had now returned and was taking the boat up to Langkawi where his partner and her daughter were to rejoin him.
The other crew members arrived not long after me on the following ferry and after a bit of exploring around the marina it was an early night to be ready for an early departure the next morning.
